Emergency Medicine
The frontline of the climate/health crisis
How will Climate Change Affect Emergency Medicine?
As with any crisis, emergency departments will suffer the brunt of the climate crisis in a multitude of ways.
Extreme weather events will cause harm to the public, especially if the UK population is not prepared adequately for such events. Heatwaves for instance, will contribute to around 20-30,000 deaths annually by 2070 in the UK, let alone the morbidities that require admission and medical treatment.
Consequently, the UK health service will need to prepare for a summer peak of admissions as well as a winter one. Deep freezes may also occur due to the collapse of the gulf stream, worsening the risk to life in winter.
Additionally, emergency clinicians will need to become more familiar with changing disease presentations and the emergence of tropical diseases such as dengue fever and malaria in the UK. This may be exacerbated by mass migration to the more temperate UK climate.
How are Emergency Departments Affecting Climate Change?
The variety of emergency cases requires a multitude of different managements. Consequently, the impact of emergency departments on the environment are varied.
Some key examples may include:
- Inappropriate use of PPE
- Lack of facilities to recycle
- Use of nitrous oxide over methods of analgesia with a lower environmental impact e.g. regional blocks and penthrox
Have a look at the infographic and check out the Green ED Frameworks for more information.
Green ED Program
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has developed a framework to guide and accelerate the transition of emergency departments to become more sustainable
Discussion Ideas with Patients and Colleagues
Given the high number of patient contacts, this is a great opportunity for providing simple, effective messaging to patients on keeping themselves safe in extreme weather events or reducing their environmental impact.
Patients:
"I would encourage you to eat a healthy diet which may help with a number of health conditions. If you can, eat more vegetables and fruit and try to have a day or 2 not eating meat each week”
“Keeping active is really important to keep you healthy. Try walking or cycling for any short journeys you have. It will help your breathing and your heart.”
Colleagues
“Could we deliver some training on regional anaesthesia or the use of penthrox in our department to move away from nitrous oxide?”
“How could we audit and assess the impact of climate change on presentations to the department?”
Highest impact actions for Emergency Departments
Emergency departments are in a unique position to monitor reasons for secondary care attendances. Keeping an audit or record of presentations due to climate change would be valuable information for public health monitoring
Reducing the use of nitrous oxide and unnecessary PPE are relatively simple changes with a very high impact.
Most significantly, emergency departments should sign up to the Green ED framework to develop a plan for decarbonising their department and educating their staff and patients further.
For More Information
Visit Centre for Sustainable Healthcare for additional quality improvement ideas and networking opportunities.